Combined heating and cooling



- April 9, 1940.

L. E. ROBERTS 2,196,87 3

COMBINED HEATING AND .COOLING SYSTEM Filed April 20, 19:9 2 SheetsQSheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY April 9, 1940.

L. E. ROBERTS 2,196,873

COMBINED HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM v Filed April 20, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

mvsmon 4 lam/fence Eflofierfa ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 9,

I UNITED J we? COMBINED HEATING AND ooouNG V SYSTEM Lawrence E. Roberts, Toledo, Ohio Application April 20, 1939, Serial No. 269,056

g Claims.

This invention relates to room heating and cooling systems of the type used for cooling purposes in warm weather and for heating purposes, in cool weather.

An object is to produce a new andimproved system of the above character'in which air is heated or cooled by the same device, which may be in the form of pipes in heat exchange relationship to the air and adapted toreceive relatively warm or cool fluid according to the desired temperature of the air introduced into the room.

Another object is to produce an apparatus which employs a series of pipes over which air is:

forced and through which a cooling or heating fluid may be circulated or passed, depending upon the desired air temperature.

A further object is to produce a furnace of not of limitation, an embodiment of the inven tion is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

Figure 1 is a a heating and cooling apparatus; s

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view substantially on the line 2--2 of Figure 1 4 Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the reservoir and tube arrangement showing by arrows the path of the liquid when the system is used for heating purposes; f Y 1 Figure 4 is a vertical sectional elevation of the apparatus showing an end view'or a view at right angles to thatshown in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is an end view of the coil arrangement with the heads removedpand Figure 6 is a top ment.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises an apparatus for heating or cooling air,

which on opposite side waus lead air inlet pipes" vertical sectional elevation of plan view of the coil-arrange- H and 12. As will be readily understood, the,

} STATES QP T E O F j pipes II and i2 mayleadfrom cold air registers suitably arrangedin the individual rooms. From the top wall of the housing Ill outlet pipes l3 extend to the-individual rooms, it being understood that the number of pipes 53 may be varied as desired in accordance with the demands of :servic'e. The air introduced into the housing from. the inlet pipes II and I2 passes downwardly through filter units It and 18 of any suitable construction and thence into a fan housing I5, which may con-' tain a suitable blower, such as'a sirrocco fan, for

forcing air under pressure through the system.

The fan is driven by a belt l6 from an electric motor H, which may be thermostatically controlled in any suitable manner, as by the room temperature.

The blower forces the air upwardly through an air conditioning chamber l9, which willhereinafter be described, and into the air outlet pipes l3. Disposed in the chamber l9 in the'path of,-

movement of the air are a series of laterally ex tending fiues 20 which are spaced'from each other and through which the products of combustion pass to a discharge pipe 2|, which may lead to the outside, preferably to a suitable chimney (not shown). The opposite end of the .flues2ll communicate with a common lateral passage 22,

which'connect at .each end with a boiler casing '23. Within the casing 23 at one side of the chamthermostatically controlled valve 28. The pipe 21 is connectedto a main gas supply pipe 29. The other burner 26 receives its supply through a pipe I 30, which extends from the main line 29 and in which is "disposed a thermostatically controlled valvei3l. The-valves 28 and 3| operate automatically in accordance with the temperature of the water, which passes through the system of coils, as will hereinafterappear. v

Suitably arranged above the Hues/.20 is asys temof coils or pipes through which the liquid passes and about which the air, driven by the blower fan, passes after being forced through the passages 32 between the fiues 2%. Two sets of pipe unitsare provided for this purpose, and the arrangement and operation thereof is best illustrated in Figure 3. It will be apparent that the boiler 24 is connected by a tube 33 with the lower portion of a head 34, which is common to a plurality of vertically spaced tubes 35. The water passes to the left of Figure 3, as indicated by the arrows, through the tubes 35 into a head 36 at the opposite end thereof. The warm water, which has somewhat cooled, passes from the lower por tion of the head 36 through a pipe 3'! into the lower end portion of the boiler 25, where the temperature of the water is again increased.

From the boiler 25 the water passes through a pipe 35 into the lower end portion of a head 39, which is common to a plurality of vertically spaced tubes 46. As indicated by the arrows on Figure 3, the water in the tubes 40 flows to the right and into a common head 4! at the opposite end thereof. At the lower end of the head 4| a pipe 42 leads to the lower end of the boiler 24, whereupon the above described liquid flow is repeated.

-The number of these units may be increased, as desired, but in this instance two units are designated on Figures 5 and 6, by the reference characters A and B. As indicated in Figure 6, a plurality of closely spaced fins 43 may be connected to the pipes in order to effect a more efi'lc-ient heat exchange relationship between the units and the air, which is forced therethrough by the blower fan, as will be readily understood.

Water may be supplied to the system from a pipe line 44, which may connect to the city water supply system. From the pipe a branch 45 leads to a reservoir 46, in which the level is maintained by a suitable float control valve 47. From the reservoir 46 a pipe 48 is connected by branches 49 and 50 to the boilers. In the line 48 is'a suitable hand valve 5| for controlling the water flow to the boilers. It will thus be apparent that the water flows by gravity to the boilers from the reservoir 46, so that the water pressure inthe line 44 is not transmitted to the boilers. On the contrary, the pressure of the water in the reservoir 46 issufiicient to keep the desired supply in the boilers 44 and 45.

From the above description it will beapparent that the air which is drawn into the housing ID throughthe pipes II and 12 by the blower is forced upwardly through the passages 32 between the fines and is partially heated, and thence is forced over the pipes 35 and 40 in the units A and Bin order to be additionally heated and then passes out of the chamber l9 through the outlet pipes l3. In this manner veryeflicient use is made of the heat generatedby the gas burners 26, it being understood that other forms of fuel may be used instead of gas for the desired purpose.

Any suitable control may be provided for operating the blower and burners. For example, the thermostats 28 and 31 may operate in accordance with the temperature of the liquid in the system so that when the temperature of the liquid drops below a predetermined minimum the burners may operate to supply additional heat. Other means, such as a control 52 may be suitably connected to beoperated by the electric motor I! so that the second burner will be turned up a predetermined period after the fan has'operated in order to heat the additional volume of air supplied by the fan. Since the construction and arrangement of the particular form of controls are well known to those skilled in this art, further description thereof is not considered necessary.

For cooling the air, it will be readily understood that the burners 26 are rendered inoperative and the valve 5| is manually closed. From the reservoir 46 a pipe 53 has a portion 54 provided with branches leading to the upper end portions of the units A and B at one end so that the water can pass through the pipes 35 and 40 in the reverse manner to that above described in connection with the heating system. From one of the unitsleads a discharge pipe 58 to a suitable drain. Consequently, it will be understood that a constant supply of water may be introduced into the system which will cool the pipes, and, consequently, the air forced over them. As shown, a

thermostatic switch 59 may be suitably connected to the motor I! so that at the desired temperaor in summer the same system with very slight adjustments can be utilized for cooling purposes. Obviously, mechanical refrigeration could be used to cool the water introduced into the system, but in many places the temperature of the city water is sufficiently low to obtain satisfactory cooling. 7 It is to be understood that numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and operation may be effected without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the appended claims. I a

What I claim is: 1. A system of the character described having a chamber provided with spaced air inlet and outlet ducts, and means for creating a current of air from the inlet to the outlet ducts, means within said chamber for modifying the temperature of air passing therethrough, said temperature modifying means including two sets of tubes one disposed above the other, a pair of hot water boilers, means providing communication between the lower end of one set and the lower end of one boiler, means providing communication between the lower end of the other set and the upper end of said one boiler,.mea'ns providing communication between the lower end of said first set and the upper end of the other boiler, and means providing communication beween thelower end of said second set andthe lower end of said other boiler, and means for heating the water in said boilers.

' 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 in which a boiler is arranged adjacent each end of the sets of tubes. v I

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 in which each of said sets comprises a plurality of spaced tubes and heads receiving opposite ends respectively of the tubes of each set, one head being at each set and being common to the tubes thereof.

4. A system as claimed in claim. 1, including a constant level-water reservoir, and means providing a gravity communication between said reservoir and said boilers.

5. A system as claimed in claim 1 in which said boilers comprise vertical flues, means providing a lateral passageway connecting all of said fiues, a plurality of laterally extending spaced fiues disposed in the path of movement of the air from said inlet to said outlet ducts and communicating other end of said lateral fines, and a discharge communication betweenthe lower end of one set and. the lower end of said boiler means, means providing communication between the lower end of the other set and the upper end of said boiler means, means providing communication between the lower end of said first set of tubes and the upper end of said boiler means, and means providing communication between the lower-end of said second set and the lower end of said boiler means, and means for heating the water in said 10 boiler means.

' LAWRENCE E. ROBERTS. 

